Professor Mark Holmes
- Professor in Microbial Genomics & Veterinary Science
- Director of Studies in Clinical Veterinary Medicine (Churchill College)
Contact
Location
- Dept of Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES
About
Education:
Ph.D. in Veterinary Immunology. University of Cambridge. 1989
M.A. University of Cambridge 1986
Vet.MB. University of Cambridge 1985
B.A. Medical Sciences (Pt I) and Computer Science (Pt I). University of Cambridge 1982
Posts held:
2014 to date. Reader in Microbial Genomics & Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.
1999 to 2014. Senior Lecturer in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge.
1990 – 1999 Lecturer in Preventive Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge
Responsible for teaching production animal medicine, cattle medicine, epidemiology, veterinary immunology, statistics, and clinical research methodology.
Director of the Cambridge Infectious Disease Consortium Outreach Program.
Supervision of 8 successful PhD students
2001 TVI during FMD outbreak based in Bury St Edmunds and Exeter
1989-1990: Post doctoral research assistant working on a project entitled “COPD- The role of the immune system and treatment by immunotherapy”
1986-1989: Wellcome Trust Veterinary Research Training Scholar University of Cambridge
1985-1986: Mixed veterinary practice in Lancashire.
Current and recent grants:
Investigation of livestock-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) in China and the UK (with Dr Andrew Grant, Dr Dan Tucker, Prof Rui Zhou, Dr Shaowen Li, Dr Lu Li) UK-China AMR Partnership Initiative (MR/P007201/1) July 2016 to June 2019 £783,728
Investigation of the population structure and genomic diversity of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from livestock in Ghana (PI Dr Beverly Ejyir) Caprex Fellowship and Cambridge-Africa Alborado Research Fund award. July 2016 to December 2017 £20,000 & £17,182.
Refurbishment of space for an initiative on Novel Approaches to Targeting Zoonotic Bacterial Infections (PI Prof Clare Bryant, co-Is: Maskell, Wood, Grant, Tucker), £187,200 Royal Society Wolfson Laboratory Refurbishment Scheme (WL150047) 2016-2017
Cambridge Enterprise ‘Fast Fifty’ seed funds for commercial collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to identify novel antibiotics in plan extracts (with Prof Duncan Maskell and Prof Clare Bryant, Dr Monique Symmonds) March 2016, £50,000
Determination of the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance genes in the human and animal gut microbiome (with Prof Duncan Maskell, Prof Sharon Peacock, Prof Mark Stevens, Prof James Wood, Dr Olivier Restif, Dr Dan Tucker & Dr Andrew Grant) funded by MRC (MR/N002660/1) October 2015 to September 2018 £1,985,599.
Health Protection Research Unit (Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance) Research into livestock-associated AMR (Cambridge project) funded by National Institute for Health Research (RG79375). April 2014 to March 2019£15,000
Whole genome sequencing to gain insight into the molecular epidemiology, antibiotic resistance and virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa causing canine otitis externa and media infections. £4,275, Petplan Charitable Trust S14-52 2014-15 (with E.M. Harrison).
Identification of biofilms in chronic wound granulation tissue in small animals. £1,545. PetSavers 40th Anniversary Award 2014- 2015 (with PI Ms. J. Ladlow and Dr A. Grant).
Workshop on the use of molecular epidemiology and functional genomics to underpin the development of novel interventions to combat bovine Staphylococcus aureus mastitis in India, £15,000, Royal Society, 2013-14 (with Dr B.K. Shome)
Phenotypic and genomic analysis of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus from UK dairy cattle, £5,290, British Society for Antimicrobial Chemistry, 2013-14 (with G.K. Paterson)
Genome sequencing to understand the molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Tanzania. £5,400, Cambridge-Africa Research Fund 2013-14 (with G.K. Paterson)
Bacterial genome sequencing to understand S. aureus infections in rabbits. £4,820, Petplan Charitable Trust 2012-13 (with G.K. Paterson)
Partnership to investigate the emergence of MRSA clones in cattle and their transmission to man (with Prof Ruth Zadoks, Prof Sharon Peacock, & Prof Julian Parkhill) G1001787/1 funded by MRC April 2011 to Dec 2015 £1,500,027
Investigation of a novel Staphylococcus aureus isolate (OD2030) funded by Defra, 2009 – 2010 £71,207 15. Investigation of a novel Staphylococcus aureus isolate funded by Isaac-Newton Trust 2009-2010 £40,000
Research
Research interests
- MRSA
- Molecular epidemiology
Mark Holmes leads a research group whose current focus of research is on antimicrobial resistance. His lab was responsible for the discovery of a new livestock-associated MRSA harboring a mecA homologue (now named mecC). The new MRSA was discovered during an epidemiological project looking at the transmission of S. aureus in dairy cows by one of our PhD students, Laura Garcia Alvarez. The original isolate was whole genome sequenced and analysed in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute by Matt Holden and colleagues. We subsequently obtained funding from Defra and the MRC to investigate the discovery further. We are currently undertaking studies to establish the prevalence and diversity of the new MRSA using whole genome sequencing and other techniques. In a collaboration with Prof Alexander Tomasz’s lab at Rockefeller University we have also looked at the function of the PBP2a produced by the mecC gene.
This work is funded by the BBSRC, Defra, and the MRC.
We are currently holding large grants to work on livestock associated MRSA in the UK and China, and on investigations of the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance genes in complex bacterial populations.
Mark Holmes also has interests in clinical research and evidence-based veterinary medicine and has published a number of papers and books in these areas.
